Shel Graves' Sensorium

Taste: pineapple Touch:  silky ears; rope toys Sight:  black and white in different lights; the clouds flying over the moon Sound:  Le Disko by Shiny Toy Guns; "I see a red door; And I want it painted black; No colors anymore; I want them to turn black" Rolling Stones Smell:  shampoos Extra:  Sally Grateful for:  color; weather-proofing

Taste:  cornbread; cayenne Touch:  kissing her candid brow Sight: withering flowers, decomposition; carriages and phaetons Sound:  as sincere as the bark of a dog Smell:  lit candles wax Extra:  in dream: being chased by zombies Quotable:  "I have been little disposed to gather flowers which would wither in my hand, but now I shall pluck them with eagerness..." Grateful for:  a roof, walls, shelter

Taste: pizza Touch: stroking Sight: autumn sunlight Sound: silent and bowed with sad civility; Lowick Smell: stale bride-cake brought forth with an odour of cupboard Extra: feeling scourged Quotable: "I would not hinder Casubon...for there is no knowing how anything may turn out." Grateful for: glorious, quiet, calm autumn days

Taste: movie popcorn Touch: "a tiny Maltese puppy, one of nature's most näive toys"; stepping on a tail Sight: a well groomed chestnut horse and two beautiful setters Sound: yip Smell: horse and rider Extra: an architect; "the objectionable puppy" Quotable: "...unless it were building good cottages—there can be no doubt about that. Oh, I hope I should be able to get the people well housed in Lowick!"; "I like to think that the animals about us have souls something like our own, and either carry on their own little affairs or can be companions to us, like Monk here."; "Perhaps we don't always discriminate between sense and nonsense." Grateful for: fantasy realms

Taste: cornmeal, thyme butter, and maple syrup Touch: a breezy autumn day; a straw bonnet and shawl Sight: a smile like a pale wintry sunshine; rose cheeks Sound: Dorothea; brisk Smell: fall leaves, maple, sweet, smoke Extra: labyrinthine; Monk, the Great St Bernard dog, who always took care of the young ladies in their walks Quotable: "Into this soul-hunger, as yet all her youthful passion was poured..." A jolt of joy: her comfortable, adoring gaze Grateful for: a lap dog and a heavy, open book

Many, but not all of the senses noted in this blog, come from Middlemarch... Taste: ghost pepper; tea Touch: fleece pajamas, folded paws Sight: candle flame, a wick; a chestnut horse Sound: doggie snoozles, contented sighs, snoring; unsheathing the book, whiskery, whisking; being read to, a reader, a narrator; cold brusquerie Smell: dragon's blood Extra: the intellectual life Quotable: "...but is there any yoked creature without its private opinions?" A jolt of joy: bats; dogs in pjs Grateful for: brunch

Taste:  bitterness Sound:  a thumping tail Smell:  pizza rolls Sight:  a bright gleam, an emerald ring; glittering jewels Touch:  smooth Extra:  fine art, a Goth Garden arrives Quotable: "Souls have complexions too: what will suit one will not suit another."; "Yet what miserable men find such things, and work at them, and sell them!" A jolt of joy : dogs in pajamas Grateful for: beautiful trinkets; my poppets

I am now concurrently re-listening to the audiobook of Middlemarch: Taste: coffee Sound: exclamations Smell: violet and sea mist Sight:  mamma's jewels, a bright parterre; Henrietta-Maria style of her head Extra: an architect; parterre Quotable: "surely there are women in heaven now who wore jewels" A jolt of joy: Lily

Taste: coffee Sound: a small growl Smell: saddle soap, horse sweat Sight:  a portrait of gold and silver Extra: canine affection Quotable: "...she felt that she enjoyed it in a pagan sensuous way, and always looked forward to renouncing it." A jolt of joy: a new word: blazonry

This year for my 49th birthday my spouse gave me The Folio Society edition of Middlemarch by George Eliot. We had also bought a copy for our friends' wedding this summer.  I had always wanted one of these books because they are beautiful. Is that not reason enough? I had heard a lot about Middlemarch before daring to read the long tome published in 1871. First I listened to the audiobook in 2010 and fell in love. Then, I picked up the book to savor it more closely. Now, I am ready to slowly reread it from my new edition. I will blog it in sensorium style noting the senses as I read and in the reading. Taste:  nocino Sound:  turning stiff, crisp pages; frippery Smell:  paper and ink; incense Sight:  The Folio Society edition of Middlemarch is a gorgeous shiny spring green. It goes well in my green writing room. Blue and silver pages.; caslon font --a serif typefont designed by William Caslon I (c. 1692-1766) in London; white space, creamy pages; candlelight...

Taste: spicy marinara  Sound: Zoe Keating; the Only Lovers Left Alive soundtrack  Smell: tangy, pungent, rotting apples; medicated shampoo  Sight: a tiny rooster in a tree  Touch: curly fur, wet fur  Extra:  bioluminescence, the Shetland mareel, sea fire  A jolt of joy dogs in costumes; sunflowers Grateful for: flowers

Taste: bitter coffee, old wine  Sound: rain-like keyboard clacking; Zoë Keating Into the Trees, Escape Artist, Optimist; thump, thump, thump, thump Smell: sugar leaves  Sight: golden leaves  Touch: slobber  Extra: anxiety, exhaustion  A jolt of joy: a bright flag  Grateful for: friends; a quiet room of my own